Newsom begging bill ready / Public divided over restrictions

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PST, Monday, January 7, 2002

2002-01-07 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- Supervisor Gavin Newsom's proposal for broader restrictions on panhandling in San Francisco has hit a nerve, generating praise from people fed up with the city's surly streets and outrage from others who see it as a mean-spirited attack on the downtrodden.

Scores of e-mails have poured into Newsom's City Hall office and to The Chronicle since the supervisor floated his idea just before New Year's. Few of the writers held back.

One suggested using high-pressure fire hoses on the "good-for-nothing bums. " Another said the crackdown would just make poor people "angrier, dirtier and sicker."

Newsom, who plans to formally introduce his legislation today, says responses have been running 10 to 1 in favor of his idea. The supervisor, who represents the city's northern neighborhoods, including the Marina and Pacific Heights, is working on final wording of his proposal.

Among the areas he's considering making off-limits to panhandlers are median strips in roadways, city-owned parking garages and parking lots, transit stations and places where people stand in line, such as in front of movie theaters. Current city law prohibits only "aggressive" panhandling and begging near ATMs.

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, who was caught in the current of homeless politics when he was mayor in the late 1980s and early '90s, isn't surprised that Newsom's proposal has stirred a lot of reaction.

"Everything that vexes the public is a hot-button issue," Agnos said in an interview. "And this one has certainly been one of the longest ongoing issues through very different times -- from my administration to Frank Jordan's to Willie Brown's."

Dick Allen, who lives in the Castro, wrote Newsom that enough is enough and praised his efforts.

"I am embarrassed at the mess the homeless have made of our beautiful city, " he wrote. "I have friends and relatives who refuse to visit because of the 'bums' on the streets here. . . . San Francisco's homeless have turned this mecca into a garbage dump and have destroyed the fiber of this city."

One Glen Park resident said he and his wife were panhandled regularly -- and called for drastic measures.

"It's a shame when an honest citizen cannot shop in a local store because of those lazy, good-for-nothing bums," the resident told Newsom. "If I had my way, I would have the local fire department out there hosing down the sidewalks and streets every morning and every evening with a high-pressure hose. I mean after all, the streets and sidewalks need a good cleaning now and then, right? If one of the bums happens to be in the path of the hose, it would probably do them some good, too."

Another San Francisco resident told Newsom she doesn't like being hassled by panhandlers either. However, she said, "what I'm finally most tired of is the victim-blaming toward the people that our economic system has thrown away. The homeless people are not going to go away no matter how much we legislate their existence.

"Until we find a way to include them in our plans," she continued, "they'll just get angrier, dirtier and sicker. They'll keep doing what it takes to survive, like people do. That's the elephant in the living room, and your legislation just makes it seem all the larger."

"This city needs real homeless solutions, not another stopgap (measure) to keep poverty out of our sights," van Gool said.

Silvia Stress, who lives in the Mission, called Newsom's idea better than nothing. The panhandling problem, she said, has gotten out of control.

"I have a right as a homeowner and a citizen of this city to be able to walk down the streets without being accosted by the beggars, or even walking through the streets without smelling urine and defecation everywhere I go," Stress said. "Where did my rights go?"

The panhandling restrictions are part of a broader package Newsom is proposing. Among other things, he wants the city to expand its homeless shelters and make sure services are better coordinated.

Newsom faces an uphill battle in getting his bills through the Board of Supervisors, where a majority of his colleagues are considerably more liberal than he is. Several are likely to put forth ideas of their own at today's board meeting. Supervisor Chris Daly, for one, wants to convene a summit on homelessness in March.

Board President Tom Ammiano, who, like Newsom, is considering a run for mayor next year, said one supervisor alone can't solve the problem.

"It's going to take the board and the mayor working together," Ammiano said.

He is expected to push an alternative plan to deal with the homeless that includes a combination of referral services, housing opportunities, drug treatment and job training.